November 2010

November 30, 2010

A Louisiana man who apparently took his loyalty to the New Orleans Saints too seriously, was sentenced this week to five years in prison for stealing a newborn calf from a farm and beating it to death with a shovel after the Saints lost last season to the Dallas Cowboys.

David J. LeBlanc Jr., who did the fatal beating at a party at a parking lot, was one of four men convicted in the case. The others stood by and watched, the Associate Press reported.

Because he said he told the truth to investigators, LeBlanc said he expected a lighter sentence than the others who got probation. But the judge said no way. District Judge Martin Coady said LeBlanc used "a dangerous weapon" to inflict a "painful death" of the defenseless animal, the Associated Press reported.

Age apparently is no boundary for Bronislawa Jarosz's criminal activity.

The convicted 83-year-old murderess was captured by Polish authorities after she disappeared from her apartment.

She'd been released from prison after having been deemed to sick to serve her sentence, but recently was determined fit enough to go back and an arrest warrant was issued, the Associated Press reported.

With the holiday season in full swing, Arlington police have stepped up patrols at the city's prime retail spots in attempt to prevent criminals from ruining the shopping experience and ease the flow of traffic.

Skywatch towers have also been placed in shopping areas such as The Parks at Arlington mall and the Arlington Highlands. Police are also using bait cars to try to catch car thieves in the act.

As they did on Black Friday, police will be coordinating traffic around retail areas on the busiest shopping days. In the parking lots of the busiest shopping centers, bike and foot patrols will also be deployed to deter crime.

Gallegos, leader of the Aztecas gang, allegedly told police after his arrest that he is "responsible for at least 80 percent of the homicides committed in Ciudad Juárez in the period since August 2009 to the present date," the paper quoted a federal police statement.

He also reportely ordered the hit on a U.S. Consulate employee in the city last March that resulted in three deaths, the paper reported.

And, Gallegos is alleged to have been involved in the January massacre of 15 students at a birthday party in the city and the killings of five federal police officers, the Times reported.

November 24, 2010

Guadalupe, Mexico, sits in the Juarez Valley, one of the busiest and most deadly drug-trafficking lanes in northern Mexico.

The town of 9,000 people across the Rio Grande from Fabens, Texas, is such as a dangerous place that most of its police officers have resigned. The once nine-member police force is down to one officer -- a 28-year-old woman who has no formal police academy training, the El Paso Times reported.

But Erika Gandara is willing to don her bullet-proof vest, grab her AR-15 assault rifle and risk her life to protect the town by herself.

In a country where police corruption is rampant, she thinks it might be best, in fact.